Drag & drop functionality changes soon in Chromium-based browsers

[Karlston]

Drag & drop functionality changes soon in Chromium-based browsers

Most Internet users know that they can drop files on the browser window to have them displayed by the browser or opened provided that the file type is supported.

 

If you drag a file, e.g. an image or video, on a Chromium browser window, e.g. of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, you will notice that it opens in that tab directly.

 

Any interaction that you had with the site in question, e.g. form data that you entered, are lost when the file is dropped. The file is displayed or the resource is loaded, but anything that was loaded prior to the action is lost.

 

Soon, this will no longer be the case as the drag & drop functionality is going to change soon in stable versions of the browser. Basically, what the change does is open the dragged file or resource in a new foreground tab.

 

 

 

There are two exceptions to the rule:

1. If the site accepts file uploads, e.g. via JavaScript, and you drag & drop files on the element on the webpage. One of the main cases of unwanted drag & drop operations happens on these sites as users need to hit the area that accepts the file(s). If they miss it, the file is going to get loaded instead and any data entered on the webpage is lost.
2. If you want to override the default behavior and want the dragged content opened in the same tab, then you may drop it on the tab strip to do so.

The change is available in some preview versions already. A test in the latest Chrome Canary version confirmed that it is active already in the browser. When you drag files on the browser window you will notice that these will get opened in a new tab in the browser and not the active tab.

 

Microsoft Edge engineer Eric Lawrence landed the patch recently in Chromium 85.0.4163.0. The change will land in all Chromium-based web browsers unless developers change the functionality actively.

 

The issue has been discussed at length in 2015 when a bug was filed on the Chromium website but nothing came out of it until now.

 

 

Drag & drop functionality changes soon in Chromium-based browsers